Mentioned in a previous article, the Huron County Council has seen presentations made by Geoff Hogan, Executive Director of Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) for several months.

At the September 6 County Council meeting, Hogan requested that Council make a final decision on the SWIFT Membership Capital Agreement by September 15, 2017.

The Agreement is one that states that Huron County will support the project by investing and funding just under $700, 000 into the fibre technology project.

According to Hogan, this project, which would be funded by Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments, would positively affect many in the County, especially farming and agricultural operations that rely on superb connectivity.

“SWIFT is the only funding that is committed by the Government, for broadband in the Region. We will start building infrastructure next year and will continue to fund fibre in lower density communities,” said Hogan.

SWIFT’s project is supported by $288M, which was allocated by Federal, Provincial, Municipal and private funding. According to Hogan, the project would lose that grant type funding without the support and investment of the County.

At the September 6 meeting, it was decided upon that Council would receive a report from staff on the project, which would include facts and figures.

It was also decided that at the next meeting, local providers would be invited to voice their support or opposition to the SWIFT project.

Geoff Hogan was not in attendance at the County Council meeting earlier this week on September 13, but representatives from local providers were.

Angela Lawrence, General Manager of Hay Communications, spoke on behalf of local providers such as Glenn Grubb, General Manager of Huron Telecommunications Co-operative Ltd., and Rob Van Aaken, General Manager of Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative Ltd.

Lawrence broke down SWIFT’s Agreement and which parts the local providers disagreed with, including the draft funding agreement.

“They only have that money [from grants to fund the project] if they can identify service providers to contribute the other $90M,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence made a point of stating that there are already 12, 000 fibre connections in Huron County today, including all hospitals and schools.

It was stated by local providers that if the County decided to accept the conditions of the Agreement and support the project, that they would not participate with SWIFT.

Currently, there are 28 providers, who are willing to bid to take over the fibre technology once the project has been completed. Some of those companies include Bell, Eastlink and Rogers.

“We have the opportunity to be very well interconnected throughout the entire Region. The worst possible outcome is that Huron County does not participate with SWIFT and the CTF funding does not get approved,” Council Watt added.

“In essence what we’re being asked, by the locals [providers] to not participate with SWIFT, is a form of asking to support local exclusivity, which I think is wrong. The locals can do what SWIFT can’t. SWIFT can do what the locals can’t.”

After an extensive discussion amongst County Councillors and local providers, weighing the options and despite not knowing extensive information or if concrete plans are set, the Council was forced to make a decision before the September 15 deadline.

The decision was more or less a leap of faith by Council in order to ensure that the grants and funding would come through, to fund the fibre technology and local connectivity project by SWIFT.

It was a close vote, but Huron County Council voted 8-6 in favour of supporting and investing in the fibre technology and local connectivity project by SWIFT.

A recommendation was made that Council support the project by SWIFT and attempt to work with the local telecommunications companies to move forward, for what is best for the County as a whole – to connect the more rural areas.